1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to timekeeping and, more particularly, to the creation of prompts to facilitate the setting or resetting and the use of digital time displays for general purpose timekeeping, as most individuals customarily employ while conducting their daily activities within desired time schedules or requirements.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Balanced, quadribalanced and enhanced quadribalanced digital time displays are disclosed in the prior art. Examples of patents which describe such displays include U.S. Pat. No. 4,627,737, U.S. Pat. No. 4,271,497 and U.S. Pat. No. 6,215,736 B1, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. These displays have a common characteristic, which is that at the conclusion of the first half of each hour, the time information transitions from elapsed time to remaining time.
More specifically, during the first half hour, the current hour in these displays is flanked on its right side by incrementing elapsed minutes in a single or dual up/down position. Thereafter the hour value increases by one to display the forthcoming next hour, minutes switch to a single or dual down/up position flanking the left side of the next hour and begin counting down the remaining minutes before the commencement of the next hour. An optional display of seconds counting up from zero to 59 during each elapsed minute and counting down from 59 to zero during each remaining minute also can be included.
3. Recognition of Problems in the Prior Art
As a result of the above-described characteristics of the three types of prior art displays, only the digital hour and seconds displays thereof remain in a stationary position, while digital minutes move in repetitive right to left flanking positions around the centrally displayed hours in rotary-like motions from hour to hour.
Because such displays occupy a larger area of the overall display field than conventional digital displays, there is a question as to whether or how such area should be modified when switching from a real time mode to a setting mode in order to set or reset real or alarm times. Another consideration is whether or how to include cues or prompts in the converted displays in order to provide differentiation between the real time displays and either the real time or alarm time setting modes.
Such cues or prompts should have singular characteristics which not only differentiate between real time and the setting or resetting of real time or alarm time, but also between the setting of either of such time values and the setting of calendar values such as day names and the dates of a current month, day and year.
Ideally, through the aid of effective prompts, the viewer should immediately become aware of which values are available for setting or resetting with utmost clarity and comprehension, so that there is little or no uncertainty or confusion, thereby minimizing or avoiding the risk of error or failure.
The present invention provides several modes of visual prompts, each having singular characteristics such that a viewer is immediately informed that a setting or resetting mode has been activated for the setting or resetting of, respectively, real time values, calendar values and alarm time values in a balanced type of digital time display. The use of such prompts facilitates the setting or resetting of such time and calendar sequences with maximum clarity and certainty so that the viewer is assured of being able to comprehend what is under way during any one of such setting or resetting procedures.
This is especially useful for the balanced, quadribalanced and enhanced quadribalanced displays of the prior art because those displays normally leave one-half or three quarters of the display area reserved for digital minutes without time information during the course of each hour. This condition is substantially contrasted by the present invention which, during the improved setting modes, not only fills substantially the entire display area with prompts, but also generates appearances which are immediately distinguishable from the usual real time appearances. Such visual differentiation between the real time displays and the setting or resetting time displays further facilitates performing the latter without confusion or error.
An important advantage of these features is that both the prompted real time and alarm time setting modes can be, and preferably are, always displayed in terms of elapsed minutes and seconds past a current hour, regardless of the specific point at which one or the other of these modes is accessed during the course of an hour. Therefore, when the real time setting mode is activated during the second half of an hour, the resulting automatic transition from remaining minutes and seconds until a next hour to equivalent elapsed minutes and seconds past a current hour enables consulting exact time announcements provided by telephone, television, radio, etc., which are likewise invariably given in elapsed time, to readily synchronize and thereby set or reset the display to the announced time. Thus, the potentially difficult mental conversion of a remaining time display to a corresponding equivalent announced elapsed time during a second half hour setting or resetting procedure is avoided and eliminated by the present invention.
Similar advantages are achieved by the prompted alarm time setting or resetting mode provided by the invention. By designing this mode to be in the same elapsed time format and content as the prompted real time setting mode, setting or resetting the minutes and hour of a desired alarm time during the second half hour, by mental conversion of such desired alarm time to equivalent remaining time, is also avoided. In addition, the similarity of the alarm setting mode to the real time setting mode and the distinct difference in appearance of such modes from a balanced real time display provides a coordinated consistency of the setting functions and differentiation thereof from the real time display, thus enhancing a viewer""s complete comprehension of these respective functions.
Other features and details of the invention will be understood from the ensuing specific description read in connection with the drawings.